FOLLOW THE MONEY: Campaign Finance Reform Back on the Table

Campaign finance reform is returning to Belize's national agenda, with the Belize Chamber of Commerce and Industry and other social partners renewing efforts to establish rules governing how political campaigns are financed.

The Reporter has obtained an updated draft of the Representation of the People (Amendment) Bill, 2026 being circulated by the BCCI as part of the renewed initiative.

The effort comes after campaign finance reform has surfaced repeatedly over the past six years without resulting in comprehensive legislation. The BCCI is again pursuing the issue alongside other social partners, including the National Trade Union Congress of Belize, Belize Network of NGOs and the Churches.

But the latest proposal moves beyond the general call for campaign finance reform by setting out what such a regulatory system could actually entail.

The 20-page draft would amend the Representation of the People Act to create a legal framework regulating campaign financing, establish a National Election Campaign Fund, and require candidates and political parties to account for campaign contributions and expenditure.

Among its most significant provisions are proposed limits on how much political parties and individual candidates could spend. Under the draft, a registered political party would face a campaign expenditure ceiling of $4 million, while individual candidates would be limited to $215,000. Those amounts could subsequently be adjusted by the Elections and Boundaries Commission, subject to affirmative resolution.

The proposal would also limit the influence of individual donors. A contributor could give a candidate no more than 10 percent of that candidate's permitted campaign expenditure, while contributions benefiting a political party would be capped at five percent of the party's permitted expenditure.

The draft also targets one of the central transparency concerns surrounding political financing: identifying who is actually providing the money.

Contributions of $10,000 or more would have to be reported to the Elections and Boundaries Commission within seven days, including the amount, date and identity of the contributor. The Commission would then be required to publish that information as soon as reasonably practicable.

Companies and other legal entities making contributions would additionally have to disclose their ultimate beneficial owners, persons exercising control and shareholders or beneficial owners holding at least 10 percent of the entity.

Cash contributions would also be sharply restricted. No contribution exceeding $1,000 could be made or accepted in cash, with larger contributions required to pass through a traceable method such as bank transfer, cheque or electronic funds transfer.

Foreign governments, public bodies, anonymous contributors and persons using intermediaries or false identities would be prohibited sources of campaign financing. Contributions from impermissible sources would have to be returned, while unidentified contributions that cannot reasonably be traced would be transferred to the Consolidated Fund.

The proposal also draws a direct connection between political contributions and government contracting. A person or company making a political contribution would be required to declare it if that contributor held a Government contract exceeding $7,000 within two years before the contribution, or subsequently entered such a contract within two years after making it.

Political parties would face new financial reporting requirements, including annual financial statements and, above a threshold to be prescribed by the Commission, independent audits. Campaign finance reports, declarations and disclosures submitted under the proposed law would ultimately have to be published online in a searchable, machine-readable format.

The draft would also regulate third-party organizations spending money to influence elections. Organizations spending more than $10,000 would generally have to register with the Commission, maintain financial records and comply with donor disclosure and other campaign-finance rules.

The proposed framework carries potentially significant consequences for deliberate violations. Where the High Court determines that a candidate knowingly committed a serious campaign-finance breach, available sanctions could include forfeiture or repayment of prohibited funds and, in sufficiently serious cases, voiding the candidate's election or disqualifying that person from contesting elections for up to five years.

The document remains a draft rather than legislation before the National Assembly and contains several provisions explicitly identified for further review and stakeholder debate. Its significance at this stage is therefore less in the specific dollar thresholds proposed than in the regulatory architecture it places back on the table: limits on political money, identification of its sources, public disclosure of campaign finances and enforceable consequences for violations.